Photo finish!

Epic match ends in Waverley win

Refreshed from an Easter weekend off, one of the shorter trips for Waverley took them to DJ Teabag's old stamping grounds at Hawley. Joining Teabag for his annual grudge match were Ian "IV" Verrinder, Stuart "Rafa" Webb, Adrian "Mog" Day, Simon "KV" Brewer, Russ "Raoul" Golding, Bob "Sponge" Moxham, Pete "Mr B" Brewer, Simon "Chewy" Knox, David "Stocky" Stockwell and Adam "AC" Carmichael. The Hawley side was not unknown to Waverley, featuring as it did Mike "Topps" Tiley, Dan "the Hawley captain" Litwin, Ben "Tealeaf" Harris and Mikey "the other Harris" Harris who have all turned out for Waverley over the last two seasons.

Winning the toss and not knowing what sort of a side Hawley had, KV elected to bat first in this 40 over match. IV and Rafa got things underway, nudging the scoring along on a dead pitch that was difficult to bat on. Having seen off the opening bowlers, IV was the first to fall when he played over a straight one from the Hawley captain. Rafa and Mog continued to toil, nudging the scoring along still further and at 72-1 with overs in hand, things were looking good for the visitors. But a batting collapse saw Waverley wobble to 79-5 as Mog, Rafa, Sponge and KV all trooped back to the pavilion in quick succession. Raoul and Mr B tried to rebuild the innings, Raoul in particular striking the ball well. But again, both were out in quick succession. Chewy was unable to add much to the score and Stocky swung the willow to add a few more precious runs before he joined the procession. Teabag was desperate not to get out and added some valuable runs down the order, including an all-run four with AC. This allowed Waverley to bat through their 40 overs, posting a score of 138-9.

Knoxy was tasked with opening the bowling and it proved to be a masterstroke, the lesser-spotted Wookie clean bowling the Hawley opener with his first ball and having Topps caught at slip by Mr B in his first over. Things got better for Waverley when Teabag trapped the other opener LBW, Hawley three down with not many on the board. But the other Harris dug in with his fourth wicket partner and Waverley were forced to toil. The situation wasn't helped when IV was injured, leaving him not too mobile in the field while Raoul deputised behind the stumps. With the game finely balanced, Mog was introduced for the ineffective AC in an effort to break the partnership. Although he didn't have much luck with the ball, AC made amends by holding onto a sharp chance in the covers to dismiss the other Harris. With the partnership finally broken, Mog went on to bag two more wickets later in his spell, castling two batsmen in succession. From the other end, both Chewy and Mr B had bowled superbly, each producing economical eight over spells. However, Waverley's modest total mean that with five overs to go, Hawley needed about five an over to win the game. KV took it upon himself to bowl at the death and helped to induce a run out, an attempt at a single off his bowling ending when AC lobbed the ball back to him with the batsman well out of his ground.

With 38.3 overs gone, the situation was as follows: seven runs to win off nine balls with three wickets in hand. With the fourth ball of the 39th over, KV knocked back middle stump. The fifth ball of the 39th over saw an unfortunate Tealeaf waft over the top of a straight one. Still seven runs required off seven balls... one wicket in hand. The Hawley captain came to the crease. KV's final ball was outside the off-stump, but an unlucky bounce took it between the legs of Raoul and down to third man. The batsmen set off for the run. IV, trying to stay out of the way because of his injury, scooped up the ball and threw it to Raoul, while the batsmen turned to try and scamper a second on the throw. Raoul collected the ball and threw down the stumps from about ten yards, with the Hawley captain short of his ground. Cue exhuberant celebrations as Waverley claimed victory by six runs with one over to spare.

The post-match mood was somewhat dampened by the fact that there was no hot water in the showers, prompting most of the regular showerers to go cold turkey. Mog collected the man of the match hat for another impressive bowling display, while Teabag was awarded the pink t-shirt for mincing whilst batting. The Supporters' Egyptian Hieroglyph Pink T-Shirt award was awarded jointly this week to Mog and KV, as both were deemed to have bottled the chance of taking a hat-trick with the ball. No Comments from the Clio this week, as the short hop from Frimley Green didn't really give AC and guest panelist Stocky a chance to get to grips with the issue of the day. However, both would recommend Straight out of Surrey, by Mr B the Gentleman Rhymer, as a top tune before a sunny Sunday afternoon's cricket...